Insights

Working SmarterWorking smarter means embracing complexity and uncertainty. It requires critical thinking and active sense-making. It takes a work environment that supports and encourages learning, sharing, and collaboration.

Integrating Work and LearningIntegrating learning into the work flow requires deep understanding of the business being supported. Faster cycle times and increasing complexity necessitate learning by doing and using frameworks like 70:20:10 to focus on performance and innovation.

Informal LearningOnly 10% of workplace learning needs are addressed through formal instruction, while the remaining are done informally. Informal learning support can include approaches such as timely reinforcement, peer coaching, respect for reflection, setting standards, cognitive apprenticeship and so on.

Next PracticesNext practices are new, practical methods for integrating learning into the workflow. They are in perpetual Beta, changing as we learn, but may be useful for a time. All models are flawed, but some are useful.

Non-Training AlternativesToo often, training is a solution looking for a problem. Non-training approaches to learning include performance support, knowledge management, social networks, collaboration tools and activity streams, among many others.

Communities of PracticeCommunities of Practice help us work smarter in networks. They are cooperative spaces for people with shared interest to connect and help each other. COP’s bridge the gap between doing complex work and randomly exploring social networks.

Mobile Learning StrategyThe world is going mobile and so will learning and development, but mLearning is about more than courses on the phone. Mobile learning is focused on deepening our understanding, making our interactions richer and augmenting work performance.

Personal Knowledge ManagementPersonal knowledge management (PKM) refers to a collection of processes to seek, make sense of, and share knowledge, as part of our daily activities, and how these processes support work activities.

Unmanagement and Social BusinessUnmanagement is how to get things done in the 21st century. Forget planning (the world’s unpredictable), organizing (self-organization’s better), directing (people are self-directed ), and controlling (control is an illusion).

GovernanceLearning governance includes the structures, systems, practices and processes that are put in place to ensure the overall strategy, effectiveness and accountability of the Learning & Development function.

MetricsBusiness metrics, not learning outcomes, are all that matters. Networked organizations are reaping rewards for connecting people, know-how and ideas at an ever-faster pace. Today’s metrics need to measure value creation, which has migrated from physical assets to intangibles (ideas).

“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as long as we live.”Mortimer Adler